Blame It On My Youth
by Ed Westwicker
Summary: We all think we know the story about the next generation, but what about those characters we never even knew existed?  Please R&R
1. Chapter 1

I remember hearing about all of my friends parents. How my dad was best friends with Draco Malfoy, supposedly hated Ron Weasley and their family, knew nothing about Dean Thomas and was almost jealous of Blaise Zabini. So I had all of these different opinions about who each of their children were going to be and who I was going to end up friends with.

You can imagine Dad's surprise when I walked home with a Weasley in tow.

I can still picture it. His wide mouth gaping open as though he was trying to shove the entire kitchen into it. Dominique's smirk playing on her lips as she twirled her red streak around her finger. My mother's hilarious squeal and the sound of glass shattering on the hard floor. And, of course, there was me in all my glory just proud of the fact that I had been able to shock them!

But before I can go any further, I have to go back.

I am Piper Goyle. No. I am not an idiot like my father. It took me four years to convince of that, but here I am. Standing tall in the Slytherin Common Room pulling pranks just like my parents would if they were still in school.

Call me predictable, but for some reason I can't stand that I'm doing exactly what my parents want me too. It's like, they mapped out my life and now I'm forced to do everything they want me to. And I hate it.

That's why I made friends with a Weasley, a Zabini and a Thomas. All people who my parents would have deplored.

It gives me an edge.

But enough about me. Why don't you just get on with your lives and leave me in peace? My story isn't that interesting anyway.


	2. Hello, Goodbye

"Don't forget that Mummy and Daddy love you, no matter what House you're in, all right dearie?" I looked up into my mother's shining eyes and knew she was lying. There was the tell-tale sign right in the way her eyebrows sagged and she chanced a few a glances back at my dad.

Okay, she wasn't completely lying, but there was still a partial lie. Mummy might love me no matter if I was Sorted into Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, but as Daddy had told me time and time again: "You'll be disowned if you're in a House other than Slytherin. Know that."

So, you can imagine my fear as I looked down the station, stepping away from my parents and falling into step next to my best friend: Scorpius Malfoy.

Interestingly enough, we both had that look of undiluted fear written all over our faces as a testimony to the torture our parents were putting us through.

I turned for one last look at my parents, but they weren't there. My heart sank to my knees and I hung my head. It was just like them to leave me alone on one of the biggest and most important days of my life.

"Did they give you the Slytherin speech too, Piper?" Scorpius finally asked as we stepped onto the scarlet train. I bit my lip, afraid that if I answered him it would open the doors to every little fear I had about being disowned and forced to live on the streets. Scorpius just smiled and pushed me into an empty compartment, sighing as he sat down. "It'll be weird, don't you think?"

"What will be weird?" My eyebrows met in the middle of my forehead, confusion written over ever plane of my face. "Going to school?"

"No, not going to school. Merlin's sake, Piper. It's like you've never known who your parents were!"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, settling my chin in my hand. It was bad enough that I was (as was predicted) best friends with Scorpius Malfoy, but now I had to sit here and listen to him drone on about how it would be at Hogwarts. Considering how our fathers had acted during the second Wizard War. And we wouldn't even have a chance to make our own reputations. Our parents had fixed that little problem for us as well.

We were going to be known as cowards. And what's worse, we were going to be disowned the minute the Sorting Hat yelled out any other House than Slytherin.

A sliver of fear snaked through my belly and I pulled my knees to my chest.

"What will the other kids think of us, Scorp'?" I whispered, resting my chin on my knees.

"What do you care what the others will think about us?" he asked, his blond eyebrow rising on his pale forehead. "I'm a Malfoy, and you're a Goyle. We're going to be the greatest students that Hogwarts has ever seen. And don't—"

He was cut off by a tall, olive skinned boy with short dark hair trying to push his way into the compartment.

"Excuse me?" I asked, my voice taking on the snotty tone that it was known for. "Who are you?"

The boy looked at me with wonder, as though it was the first time he had noticed we were sitting in the compartment. I looked at Scorpius who had a smirk on his thin lips and I rolled my eyes. Leave it to my best friend to take the side of the new kid over the girl he's known since birth.

"I—I'm Joshua Zabini. But you can call me Josh." He offered me a tiny smile, one that I was disinclined to return.

"I'm afraid I won't be calling you much of anything," I sniffed; turning away and watching the scenery pass by. Scorpius let out a low chuckle and shook his head. I whipped my head around and glared at him, my brown eyes turned icy with annoyance. "Did I say something funny, Scorpius? Or did you just find out how odd it was that there is someone else in this compartment?"

Scorpius shook his head again and looked up at Josh, sharing a look with the boy. I crossed my arms over my chest and shook a piece of hair off of my forehead.

"He's a Zabini, Piper," Scorpius said matter-of-factly. I raised my eyebrows, motioning for him to continue. "My father was friends with his."

I rolled my eyes, the annoyance seeping off of my body so thickly that you could almost see it.

"Just because your father was friends with _his_ doesn't mean that we have to sit here and allow him to be with us," I hissed, leaning forward in the seat.

Joshua shifted his weight uncomfortably and his eyes flitted between me and Scorpius. I lifted my nose, and grit my teeth. Annoyance was turning into anger now and it was all I could do to keep from punching the both of them square in the nose.

"If you really don't want me to be in here, I can find somewhere else to sit," Josh said quietly, his dazzling green eyes downcast with rejection.

A smile stretched across my face and I turned to look at Scorpius, convinced that he would agree with Josh and force him out of the compartment. But Scorpius didn't agree with me. He wanted Josh to sit with us. And in some ways, in my mind at least, wanted Josh to take over my spot as best friend. I pursed my lips and tapped my toes against the floor. It wasn't fair. I was the one that he had known since birth, not some slimy git fresh off the streets. It was me that he had grown up with, not some stupid Zabini that his father was simply acquaintances with.

"Pipe, you're mumbling to yourself," Scorpius snorted, his gray eyes glittering with amusement.

I rolled my eyes and stood up, making to walk out of the compartment.

"Don't bother with me," I snapped to him, narrowing my eyes. "I was just leaving you and your new best friend to talk without me interrupting you."

Scorp opened his mouth to say something, but the compartment door was shut and I was on my way down the corridor before anything could reach my ears. It was a stupid thing to do really, but I couldn't help it. Neither of us really had any contact with any other witches or wizards other than ourselves and it was just a natural reaction, I suppose, that made me think that I would think that he would be drawn to the first boy to come into his line of vision.

If only there was a girl to come into _my _line of vision.

I looked up and down the corridor, almost wishing that someone would come into view. Crestfallen, I bowed my head and scraped my fingers through my hair. I took a deep breath and turned back the way I had come. It could only help to apologize to Scorp and then try to make amends through trying to make friends with that Zabini character.


	3. That's How It Goes

I walked through the corridor, my thoughts racing and my palms slick with sweat as I wondered how I could apologize to Josh without it seeming forced. I gulped when I reached the compartment and bit my lip. It was now or never. If I didn't apologize I risked losing my best friend, well, the only friend that I had really. But if I did apologize, Scorpius would know something was up.

I grit my teeth, jutted my chin and opened the compartment door. That was that, I was going to apologize and make it as sincere as I could muster.

"Piper? I thought you—" Scorpius looked up with confusion written all over his pale face.

"I know what you thought, but I came to apologize." I watched Josh's reaction and bit down a smirk. My brown eyes met Josh's green ones and I smiled the warmest smile I could hold. "I overreacted. I'm sorry for being so cold towards you. It's obvious that Scorpius knows you, or knows of you, and any acquaintance of Scorp, is an acquaintance of mine." Josh smiled and held out his hand for me to shake. I felt my nose wrinkle in disgust and covered it up with a sneeze. I gripped his hand and pumped it up and down.

"So, Piper," Josh started quietly, seeming to hold on to the tiniest bit of his shyness, "Scorpius told me you're a Goyle. How…. Interesting?"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. "So what if I'm a Goyle?" I snapped, annoyance bubbling to the surface of my emotions.

"N—Nothing. I didn't mean anything by it," Josh stammered, pressing his spine into back of the seat.

I rolled my eyes and shook a piece of hair off of my forehead. It was bad enough that I was trying to make amends with him, now he was bringing my last name into it? I bit my tongue to keep from lashing out at him.

"As you can see, Piper's last name is a touchy subject for her," Scorpius said, trying to smooth over the awkwardness of the situation. Josh grimaced in my direction and I just glared at him. "Well, now that we've got that out of the way: What house do you want to be Sorted into, Josh?"

Josh straightened his spine and his face brightened as he prepared to answer the question. "Slytherin, of course."

"Oh, really? Does Mr. Zabini want to be in the same house as his pretty father was?" I asked sarcastically, clapping my hands together and practically jumping up and down in fake excitement. "No surprise there?"

"What house do you want to be in then, since you're so ready to judge why I want to be Slytherin?" Josh bit back, clenching his hands into fists.

I tapped my toes against the floor and thought about my answer for a minute. If I answered Slytherin it would make me seem like a hypocrite, but if I answered any other House Scorpius would call me out. And, anyway, I didn't _really_ know what House I wanted to be Sorted into. My father had all but forced me into Slytherin since I was born.

I finally broke out of my thoughts to find both Scorpius and Josh staring at me expectantly.

"Slytherin," I muttered, slightly inclining my head.

Josh smirked and looked at Scorpius, his green eyes glittering mischievously.

"What a surprise Lady Sarcasm," Josh smiled, raising his eyebrows.

I smiled indignantly, a bit miffed that he had gleaned a smile. I sat down across from him and Scorpius and quietly, but surely, decided that Zabini wasn't as bad that I thought he was. He was still trying to take my position as Scorpius's best friend, but he wasn't the completely conceited, irrelevant boy that my father had described his father as.

"Um, excuse me?" a small, timid voice asked from the entrance into the compartment almost whispered. The three of us looked up as one and stared at the flaxen-haired girl that had interrupted our conversation. "Could you tell me if you've seen a black haired boy running through here?"

"No," Scorpius answered, raising his eyebrows at the stick-like girl. The girl lowered her head silently, her blonde locks covering her elfin face. She turned around to leave the compartment, but Scorpius stood up. I grabbed his shirt sleeve and pulled him back down. He pushed me away and stood back up, making his way toward the tiny girl. "We can…help you find him, if you want?"

My eyes widened in shock and I felt my jaw drop onto the floor. This wasn't the Scorpius I knew! As a matter of fact, if his father were standing next to us I _knew_ that Scorpius would have his nose up in the air and wouldn't even meet the poor blonde's blue eyes. I snuck a look at Zabini and recognized the same horror in his own expression. A flash of surprise flood my body when I realized that we had the same opinion of Scorpius's actions and the fact that he was so readily befriending this random girl.

"That—that would be brilliant," the blonde practically whispered, excitement brightening her face. But then it darkened, probably with the realization of who we were. "But, it really isn't a huge deal. I can find him on my own."

A smile spread across my own face and I nodded exuberantly, preparing to push her out of the door if need be.

"Well, you asked where he was and now we're going to help you find him. Come on!" The blonde smiled and twirled a piece of her hair around her finger, her wide blue eyes flitting between my scowl and Scorpius's excited smile. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy, by the way. This is Piper Goyle and Joshua Zabini. Who are you?"

The girl's expression fell and she backed away from Scorpius. Irritation bubbled through my system and I stepped toward's her.

"Do you have a problem?" I sneered, my nose wrinkling as I neared her.

"N-No," she stammered, her blue eyes focusing on anything other than me. "It's just that… My Uncle Ron told me about you. Well, really only him." She pointed at Scorpius, a look of pure fear flashing across her features. "I mean, it's not that I ha-have a problem with any of you, but from what my Uncle said, it would be better if I just tried to find my cousin on my own."

Scorpius mouth dropped open into a tiny "o" and he grabbed my sleeve, pulling me away from the girl. I pushed back at him and brought my nose two inches from hers.

"Please, don't hurt me," she cried, her lower lip trembling with fear.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed, too annoyed to do anything to the poor dear.

"Are you telling me that you're a Weasley?" Scorpius asked, venom practically dripping from his mouth.

"Well—"

"That wasn't a 'well' question," I spat. "Are you, or are you not, a Weasley?"

Tears filled the girl's blue eyes and, for a second, I felt remorse for the hatred that was obviously seeping from both Scorpius and I.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times without a word passing through her lips, reminding me of a fish. She finally began to twirl a piece of blonde hair around her finger and opened her mouth one final time.

"To answer your question, I am a Weasley." I rolled my eyes and Scorpius shook his head. I'd like to think that Josh was sitting in the background giving the occasional "Amen" or "Mm-hmm", but I'm pretty he was just sleeping. "But I'm not one of the Weasleys that your fathers hated. I promise."

I bit my lip and looked at the floor for a second.

"Our _fathers_ hated all of the Weasleys," Scorpius spat, his face paling with anger. "It doesn't matter which branch you're from. And if my father hated your family, well, I'm sorry. But I'm just going to have to do the same."

At this, Josh stood up and stepped in between Scorpius, the blonde and I. His green eyes locked with mine and I shook my head, silently begging him not to jump in.

But against my pleas, he couldn't resist edging a word in. "Scorpius, Piper," he said calmly. "Listen to yourselves. Do you even make sense?"

I rolled my eyes and grit my teeth, longing to grab his pretty little head and rip it off of his body. Scorpius crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his toes against the ground. The blonde girl looked at Josh with the same adoring; sappy look that I can only imagine one would give to a hero of some sort. After about a minute of us glaring at Josh, my temper finally subsided and I sighed, my shoulders calmly rolling forward.

"He's right, Scorp," I said quietly, placing my hand on his shoulder. Scorpius shook it off, his nose wrinkled in disgust. "We should at least give her a chance to let us form our own opinion of her." He turned to me, hatred written across the pale planes of his face. "Have you ever thought about how people are going to react when they see a Malfoy, a Goyle and a Zabini walk into Hogwarts?" Scorpius shrugged, but I could see the anger dissipating. "It's not fair for us to judge her when we're going to receive the same treatment."

"Fine. But I'm not going to be friends with her."

"Only if that means I can't be friends with Josh."

Scorpius smirked and rolled his eyes, looking at the blond Weasley. "So, I don't think we formally met." He offered his hand to her and smiled. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy."

"Dominique Weasley," she smiled, her dazzling white teeth shining behind her red lips. "It's nice to meet you."


End file.
